"Ah, but it makes a great deal of difference, you see. It is the difference between the unknown and the unknowable, between science and fantasy– it is a matter of essence. The four points of the compass be logic, knowledge, wisdom, and the unknown. Some do bow in that final direction. Others advance upon it."
Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

Creative Writing Wednesday: “Invocation to Sharaasha”

Or it will. Eventually. Once I actually write the scene it appears in.

Basically, at some point in The Lotus Imperiate, the characters summon one of the Elemental Powers, who can be thought of as being like gods– but in The Lotus Imperiate, the Lotus Lords (the equivalent of gods) personify abstract concepts, like justice or beauty or strength, while the Elemental Powers are all about the physical. One of them, Sharaasha, is the Elemental Power of the Sea. She is the personification of both the bounty and rage of the ocean, and believe me, when she appears, there’s no bounty anywhere near this shit. The summoning of Sharaasha will, in its turn, kick off many of the main plots of Books Two and Three of the trilogy (which I haven’t named… so sue me, I can’t come up with titles to save my life), and have Long Term Repercussions™ over The Length of the Saga®.

This is also an interesting poem because it’s in iambic tetrameter, which is by far the most common poetic meter in English poetry, and yet I’ve rarely used it in my poems. I wanted to convey the feeling of the rhythm of waves and tides and currents. I don’t know what an invocation to any of the other Elemental Powers would sound like. They would probably use different verse forms. I just haven’t thought out what they’d be.